Programs

Programs

We engage 350 NYC youth aged 10-19 in project-based, youth-inspired programs at the Nicole Schiffman Center for LOVEYouth in Manhattan and at public schools city-wide. Programs are relevant to participants’ lives, and are inter-connected so that youth can stay with us for up to five consecutive years as they grow into leadership roles.

Media Arts Program (MAP): Youth gather after school over the course of the year in small, guided groups to explore the causes and consequences of violence. They learn to use media arts as tools of self-expression and develop empathy and tolerance for one another. MAP is offered at the Center, in schools, and as an intensive Summer Media Program that focuses on video. Graduates from the Center-based MAP can continue on to LOVE Youth Leadership Training. In schools, MAP youth communicate messages of non-violence to the entire student body.

Youth Leadership Training: Over multiple years, MAP graduates meet year-round at the Center. They act as spokespersons in schools and communities, and as youth mentors to younger program participants. Through guided and youth-directed work, they strengthen their skills in the media arts, anger management, active listening, conflict resolution, goal-setting, team-building and discussion facilitation, and public speaking. Leaders receive additional training through LOVE’s Summer Leadership Camp in Ontario, Canada.

Program enhancements at the Center include individual and group counseling, field trips, visiting artists, drop-in hours, career fairs, special events, leadership training camp, and academic and college- and career-readiness support services.

Outreach: LOVE youth Leaders, alumni and program staff engage students in a five-week in-school program at high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. The hands-on media arts activities raise awareness of youth violence, foster pro-social responses to violence and improve school culture.